Automatic sawmill-block



. nivrrEi) sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

HIRAM VELLS, OF FLORENCE, MASSACHUSETTS.

i so

AUTOMATIC SAWMILL-BLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 17,537, dated June 9, 1857.

To all who/m tz' may concern."

Be it known that I, Hman WTELLS, of Florence, in the county ofl-Iampshire and State of itlassachusetts, have invented a new and usefulAutomatic Head-Block for SawmilleCarriages; and l do hereby declare thatthe same is described and represented in the following specification anddrawings.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation, re ferring to thedrawings in which the same letters indicate like parts in each of thefigures.

Figure l, is a plan of my head block on a carriage. Fig. 2, is a sideelevation of the same. Fig. 3, is an end elevation.

The nature of my invention consists in certain devices which traversethe log toward the saw simultaneously on each head block, and set itautomatically, or permit the workman to set the log on either headblock, or on all the headblocks at the same time by vibrating a singlelever.

In the accompanying drawings A, is the floor of the mill, B, B, the waysfor the carriage to traverse on, consisting of the sides C, C, and endbars D, D, fastened together in the form shown with some cleats E, E,under the bar D, to lit and traverse against the ways B. The head blockF, lies across the carriage and is provided with the cleats G, G, whichtit against the sides C, and the head block may be fastened to the sideby some convenient means which may be provided for that purpose. Thishead block F, has a groove in it to which the rack H, with ratchetshaped teeth is fitted to traverse when operated by the segmentgear I,which meshes in the gear teeth J, on the side of the rack. The segmentgear I, and lever K, are in one piece and vibrate on the screw L, in thestand M, fastened to the block F, as shown in the drawing.

rThe sides of the groove in the head-block F, are cut dovetailing, andthe base of the knee N, is tted to traverse in it, which knee is made inthe form shown and provided with three pawls P, shown in Fig. 3, whichpawls are arranged to catch into the rack H, successively so that if therack H is moved one-third of the distance or space between two teeth,one of the three pawls falls into the rack, so that the knee N may betraversed one-third of the space between two teeth of the rack, or amuch larger distance each time the lever K is vibrated toward the headblock to traverse the knee and log toward the saw. The hand lever O isfitted to vibrate on a screw in the knee N, and its lower end is bent,so as to pass under the pawl P, and raise them up and hold them clear ofthe rack H, when the lower end of the lever is vibrated from the pivotsof the pawls, so that the knee may be traversed or pushed back to therear end of the head block. vWhen the knee N is traversed as near thesaw as it is proper for itto go, the spring Q. stops the end of thelever O and the pawls pass onto it and are raised clear of the rack andthe knee stops, when it may be pushed back and the lever O vibrated tolet the pawls down, so that the rack will carry the knee forward again.The spring R, on the knee N, presses against the lever O, so as to holdthe lever in such position as it may be placed when in use or out.

I have described the devices which may be used to traverse the knee andset the log by hand, and I will now describe the parts connected to themto traverse the knee and set the log automatically.

The bar S is arranged to traverse in stands T, T, on the side C, and hasthe slide U titted, so that it may be traversed upon it, and fastened atthe point desired by a set screw, which slide has a swivel head V, witha score in it for the lever K, so as to vibrate the lever when the bar Sis traversed in the stands T, T. The stand W' is fastened to the floor Afor the bolt X to traverse in, which bolt is forced up by a spiralspring in the lower part of the stand; the face of the stand thatcovered the spring being omitted in Fig. 2 to show the spring. The boltX has a cam lever (L on its face by which it may be drawn and held downwhen desired. There is a projection b, on the bar S, which bar should beso set that when the log being sawed is run back so as to clear the sawthe projection b will stop against the bolt X, and as the carriagecontinues to move, the lever K is vibrated and the knee N traversedforward, so as to set the log a proper distance for a new cut. Theswinging cam c on the carriage should be so set that when the knee hasmoved the log the distance required for a new cut the cam will run ontothe pin d, in the bolt X, and push it down, so that the projection Z)will pass over the bolt and the knee will remain stationary in the headblock. The

.the bar S. There are some stops L, L, on

the stands of the swinging cams, so arranged that one of the cams pushesthe bolt YX down when the carriage is moving' 1n one direction and theother when the carriage is moving in the opposite direction. These camsc, and j', are swung up by the pin d, alternately and pass over itwithout depressing the bolt X. By varying the distance between theswinging cams c and f, the knee N may be made to set the log being sawedmore or less, or such distance as may be desired to make the lumbersawed the thickness required.

I contemplate that the carriages for my automatic head blocks may bemade ot such a lenffth as may be desirable, and provided with 2two 'ormore head blocks, and that the bar S may be made to extend the wholelength of the carriage and provided with a slide like U, with a swivelfor a lever like K from each head block, so arranged that by traversingthe bar S the knees in the Vseveral head blocks will be movedsimultaneously to set the log on the carriage automatically, and thatwhen it is desirable to set or move the knees one at a time, the leverslike K may be lifted out of the swivels and vibrated by hand to traversethe racks and knees, and that when it is desirable to traverse all theknees simultaneously by hand to set the log, the cam lever a may beswung to hold the bolt X down out or' the way of the projection. b, andthe lever g may be moved toward the carriage on its fulcrum to bring thegear on the lever into the rack 7c, on t-he bar S, so that by vibratingthe lever g the bar S may be traversed to move the knees and set thelog, or if it is desirable to move one or a part of the knees on thehead blocks by moving the lever g, the levers K may be raised outk ofthe swivel heads of the knees that are to remains stationary so thatthey will not be moved when the bar S is traversed by the lever g. Ialso contemplate that the carriage may be traversed by rack and pinionor such other devices as may be preferred for that purpose.

I believe I have described and represented my automatic head block forsawmill carriages, so as to enable any person skilled in the art to makeand use it.

I will now state what I desire to secure by Letters Patent, to wit:

I claim the devices substantially such as are herein described, ortheirequivalents, so constructed as to traverse the log toward the sawsimultaneously on each headblock, and set it automatically, or permitthe workman to set the log on either headblock or on all at the sametime by the lever g when put into gear with the rack K as described.

` HIRAM WELLS. Witnesses:

I-IIRAM STEBBINS, S. L. HILL.

